


i count my steps

by annemari



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 16:39:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annemari/pseuds/annemari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Louis often play truth or dare to unwind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i count my steps

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 1D Day. Written for the "truth or dare" square on my [Gen Prompt Bingo](http://genprompt-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) card. Thanks so much to **janesgravity** for looking this over for me! Title from "Wild Sage" by The Mountain Goats.

"Truth or dare?" Louis asks.

"Truth," Zayn says.

"What was the worst part of today?"

Zayn sighs and scratches at his stomach, staring up at the ceiling where he's stretched out at the foot of the bed. 

Louis thought Zayn might spend tonight at his hotel room with Ant and Danny and Jonnie, but when Louis got up to go to his room Zayn followed him out.

He watches Zayn breathe, watches him think. "How long it was, I guess," Zayn says. "I thought it was never gonna end. You?"

Louis frowns. "Truth or dare me." It's kind of unnecessary, but it's a system. It works. It's what they do.

Zayn doesn't sigh or roll his eyes, just says, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"What was the worst part for you?"

"Everything kept breaking. God, Zayn, it was such a _mess_."

"I know," Zayn says. "I was there."

Louis huffs. "I thought they just needed time to get the hang of it, but—fuck."

"It was a lot," Zayn says. "A seven hour live stream. It was never gonna be perfect, y'know?"

"I know," Louis says. "I know, I know that people worked hard, but..." Zayn doesn't prompt him right away; he waits quietly for Louis to finish his thought. Louis isn't sure what to say—he can feel frustration rise in him again, just thinking about it, and it took him a while to push that feeling down.

"The fans still liked it," Zayn says eventually.

"They're probably used to it."

Zayn snorts. "Definitely used to it. It's fine, man."

Louis sighs and closes his eyes. "Okay. Truth or dare."

"Truth."

"Best part of the day?"

"The throwing stars," Zayn says immediately. "Winning the samurai sword, how sick was that?"

Louis huffs. "I let you win."

Zayn laughs softly. It seems to vibrate through the room. Louis is _so_ tired. He's definitely sleep deprived; his ears are ringing and he can't keep still. 

"Sure, man," Zayn says. "Sure you did."

"I did," Louis protests. "Knew how much you wanted it, didn't I?"

Zayn doesn't say anything to that and Louis looks over at him. He's resting his head on his forearms and his face has gone all soft. Fuck.

"Truth or dare," Louis says quickly.

"It's my turn," Zayn says slowly.

"Fine," Louis says, looking up at the ceiling. It's just a plain white ceiling, and most of it is in darkness anyway; they only have the reading lamps switched on.

Zayn shifts on the bed, and the heavy, hot feeling in Louis's stomach gets worse. Better. Just—stronger.

"Truth or dare?" Zayn asks.

Louis abandons the ceiling and looks back at Zayn. He's kneeling on the bed, and when he catches Louis's gaze he holds it for a bit before shuffling forward. It's not really a shuffle at all, it's like a smooth practised move, and Louis feels stupid for being impressed by it, but it's—Zayn.

He sits up, his head swimming for a second from exhaustion and the beers they drank earlier, and the weed. "Dare," he says, and Zayn's mouth curls into a small pleased grin.

"Kiss me," Zayn says, and Louis reaches for him and does.

Zayn's mouth still tastes of smoke and alcohol, and his beard is rough against Louis's mouth, and he wraps one of his arms around Louis's waist and brings the other up, tangling his fingers in Louis's hair, and all of that is _so_ familiar.

Louis can count the times their games have led to this on one hand, and it still feels like they've been doing this forever. Since he first spotted Zayn at boot camp, or even before that.

He thought he was gonna have a proper freak out after the first time, but he didn't. He kept thinking about how it could fuck up so many things, how it could have fucked _them_ up, but he couldn't make himself _believe_ it. It was like for once his brain was absolutely refusing to even try to sabotage itself.

It feels really good to be sure of, if not something, then someone. He can be sure of Zayn.

Zayn eventually pushes him down on the bed, and sits on Louis's thighs, his hands going to Louis's sides—fingers warm and sure. He doesn't stop kissing him, and Louis feels so comfortable in this moment to just let Zayn be in control. That alone would usually give him pause, make him try to fight, but Zayn is different. Always has been. Not the exception to Louis's rules, but something else entirely. Someone who makes Louis forget about the rules.

Christ, he must still be drunk, thinking of soppy shit like this.

His hands found their way to Zayn's arse a while back, and though there might not be much to get hold of, Louis is appreciative all the same.

He's hard, too, his cock thick in his pants, but he isn't feeling desperate like usual. Zayn's fingers ghost over his neck, his cheek, and his kisses are slowing down.

Soon he's just gently mouthing on Louis's neck, not biting or sucking, and not really kissing either, just—Zayn. Soft lips and warm breath, he's such a comfortable weight on top of Louis.

Louis is slowly running his hand over Zayn's back, occasionally scratching lightly, like Zayn's a cat. Louis is more of a dog person, but it's an agreed point in the band, that Zayn's a cat. Liam's a Golden Retriever.

Zayn snuffles against Louis's neck and suddenly all his bodyweight is on Louis. Louis hitches in a breath and rests his hand on the small of Zayn's back. He's tired and hot and still wearing his jeans, too lazy to take them off earlier.

"Why are we still wearing clothes?" Louis asks. He means to come off as cross but ends up sounding needy and breathless.

Zayn just mumbles against Louis's neck. He sounds ready to drop off and if he falls asleep now Louis won't get him awake again before morning.

"Come on, babe," Louis says. "Clothes off."

Zayn grumbles when Louis tries to push him off—god, it's not like Louis _wants_ to—but finally rolls over to his so side before getting up and starting to undress. Louis gets his jeans off and climbs under the covers, feeling chilly with the warmth from Zayn's body gone.

They don't really talk about it. They're not pretending it didn't happen, either, but there's always a moment after where he wonders if it'll happen again or if one day it'll go farther than kissing.

Zayn pulls the covers down to get in bed and Louis shivers.

"Cold?" Zayn asks, settling down next to him.

"A bit," Louis admits.

Zayn hums and scoots closer, throwing a leg over Louis's and wrapping his arm around Louis's waist. His breathing's already getting deeper, close to sleep. Louis can read it well, with so many nights spent together, at X Factor, on the tour bus, in hotel rooms. He closes his eyes and turns his head slightly to the side, towards Zayn.

Here in the dark, right before sleep, he feels he can be honest enough with himself to know that if they ever stop doing this Louis will just say screw the game and ask for Zayn to kiss him whenever.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> [[tumblr](http://underthisweather.tumblr.com/)]


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